Why are languages so damn hard to learn? This isn't bitching, but so many UE per level seems a little overkill.
Care to explain a little?
And thanks foe your time.
The language system creates communication barriers in the game. Two (or more) people who share a language can converse freely in it, and perhaps rudely, in front of people who don't speak it, much like in real life. An immigrant who doesn't speak any language you know will be more difficult to communicate with in person, sometimes to a frustrating degree, forcing you to rely more heavily on body language and gestures.
If languages were quick and easy to learn, these sorts of things would become completely moot, as everyone would go spend a few spare UE points to learn all the languages and never be kept out of the loop if someone was speaking a different language. Another key thing to understand is that SD, at least for stats/skills, is more about slow progression based on longer-term planning. You don't wake up one day and decide this weekend I'll become fluent in Simlish or whatever, you have to dedicate yourself to learning it, much like becoming thoroughly proficient at any other kind of skill.
I've had many quite wonderful RP moments where not sharing a common language, or deliberately using a language some people present don't understand, have greatly enhanced the situation. If it wasn't so difficult to learn new languages, these sorts of things wouldn't be possible.
I honestly don't mind maybe a word or two drop of a foreign language. I know a little bit of a couple languages so I can keep up rather well, but please do keep in min that the Staff has asked several times to not use non-English unless you actually codewise change your language using 'speak'.
I know not every possible language there is is in our language system, but there are a couple of languages that encompass a mix of languages, which is a bit more realistic considering the lore of the SD world.
In summary, a word or two as a greeting or maybe a select curse word is OK with me (though maybe not with the Staff) but if it goes any further than that, use the language system please!
This is the stance using any foreign language while still codedly speaking english. A word here and there for 'flavor' to add personality. The coded languages are there for this reason. If you want to speak a complete sentence in a foreign language, drop your UE into that language tree. While, as Stryder has said, there are only a limited number of choices for languages, most of them are blanket languages. Euro for example is a blanket language for all of the languages spoke in Europe, themewise the natural disasters and the advance of technology have basically melded them into a common tongue. (or so I have heard it described before).
If your character was born in X location therefore should know X language but you havent invested the UE into it, then maybe your character forgot most of it along the way, been away from home for too long. Or maybe something happened in their homeland that makes them refuse to speak or acknowledge the language anymore(other than flavor words).